How am I supposed to know?

[GameOver22]

dsgrue3 said:

Immortal said:
@dsgrue3, of course you do. I have yet to meet a religious person who doesn't. That's not the point, though. Is the biology really simple enough for everyone to understand, though? And, if it is, is it the same for the science behind climate change? Homosexuality? For taxes, while I'm unclear on the specifics, surely, you've argued this with someone else on this forum by now? Maybe I'm misunderstanding something, but I believe there was a Politics thread about someone wanting to raise the taxes (firstly) on the rich very recently/

Biology is a required course for every high school student, so yes, the science behind it is easily understood at a top level. If you're asking whether anyone can understand all the intricacies involved in genetics, then not without years of additional education on the subject matter.  Most processes can be described in easy to understand terms. If they aren't, then either that source is beyond the scope of your knowledge or it is a bad source.

I don't think that's a good example. The fact that biology can be taught at the high school level doesn't mean that the students actually understand biology. Being able to regurgitate facts is a lot different from understanding the underlying meaning behind a field, and I would argue that being able to truly understand and analyze biological research depends on at least a college-level (probably higher) understanding of the material. I think the main point here is, if you asked a high-schooler whether evolution is true, there's a big difference between citing a textbook or teacher and actually explaining or justifying why that textbook or teacher is right.

Maybe another way of putting it is that there is a difference between a survey understanding of the material and a detailed understanding of the material. The later provides a way to analyze information. The former just gives you a bunch of unorganized facts.